Serbian Church glorifies Father Justin Popovic, Father Simeon of Dajbabe

The Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church has released this communiqué:

At its afternoon session on April 29 of this year, the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church unanimously adopted the recommendations of the responsible diocesan bishops and added to the diptychs of the saints of the Orthodox Church the names of Archimandrite Justin Popovic spiritual father of the Chelije Monastery near Valjevo of blessed memory (1894-1979), hereafter known as our Venerable Father Justin of Chelije, and Simeon Popovic, abbot of the Dajbabe Monastery near Podgorica (1854-1941), hereafter known as our Venerable Father Simeon of Dajbabe.

The liturgical commemoration of our Venerable Father Justin will be on June 1 on the old calendar (June 14 according to the new calendar), and the commemoration of our Venerable Father Simeon will be celebrated on March 19 on the old calendar (April 1 o the new calendar).

The festal glorification of these newly-canonized God-pleasing ones will take place at the Holy Hierarchical Liturgy of the Holy Assembly of Bishops next Sunday, May 2, at St. Sava Church on Vracar in Belgrade, beginning at 9:00 AM.

The liturgical commemoration of our Venerable Father Justin will be on June 1 on the old calendar (June 14 according to the new calendar), and the commemoration of our Venerable Father Simeon will be celebrated on March 19 on the old calendar (April 1 o the new calendar).

What does this mean? What is the official date on the calendar, old or new (i.e. what is the liturgical date)? I would assume it's universally June 14th and April 1st, and the journalist simply meant when the days fall on the civil calendar for the Old Calendar dates.

The liturgical commemoration of our Venerable Father Justin will be on June 1 on the old calendar (June 14 according to the new calendar), and the commemoration of our Venerable Father Simeon will be celebrated on March 19 on the old calendar (April 1 o the new calendar).

What does this mean? What is the official date on the calendar, old or new (i.e. what is the liturgical date)? I would assume it's universally June 14th and April 1st, and the journalist simply meant when the days fall on the civil calendar for the Old Calendar dates.

No, all Orthodox will, until 2100, commemorate each of these two saints on the same day, just like we do Pascha. It's just that the date will be reckoned, for the example of St. Justin, as June 1 on the Old Calendar and as June 14 on the New. (We do the same for any other saint glorified since the calendar reforms of the 1920's--e.g., St. John Maximovitch, who died in 1966.) This is not like our commemoration of saints preceding the 20th century, whom we commemorate on the same calendar date, such that those who follow the Old Calendar will commemorate them 13 days after those on the New.

No, all Orthodox will, until 2100, commemorate each of these two saints on the same day, just like we do Pascha. It's just that the date will be reckoned, for the example of St. Justin, as June 1 on the Old Calendar and as June 14 on the New. (We do the same for any other saint glorified since the calendar reforms of the 1920's--e.g., St. John Maximovitch, who died in 1966.) This is not like our commemoration of saints preceding the 20th century, whom we commemorate on the same calendar date, such that those who follow the Old Calendar will commemorate them 13 days after those on the New.

What a strange way of doing it. How will the calendar issue be resolved with more drifts like this? Now saints are getting two different dates on two different calendars? We need to resolve this as a church.

No, all Orthodox will, until 2100, commemorate each of these two saints on the same day, just like we do Pascha. It's just that the date will be reckoned, for the example of St. Justin, as June 1 on the Old Calendar and as June 14 on the New. (We do the same for any other saint glorified since the calendar reforms of the 1920's--e.g., St. John Maximovitch, who died in 1966.) This is not like our commemoration of saints preceding the 20th century, whom we commemorate on the same calendar date, such that those who follow the Old Calendar will commemorate them 13 days after those on the New.

What a strange way of doing it. How will the calendar issue be resolved with more drifts like this? Now saints are getting two different dates on two different calendars? We need to resolve this as a church.

But let's not pollute this wonderful thread with what is certain to be a rancorous debate.

[my translation] St. Simeon of Dajbab was born 1854 in Cetinje (Montenegro) in the lower-region brotherhood of Popovic (popovic family) as Sava. He finished his elementary schooling in Cetinje. He then went to the seminary of Kiev, and along with that he participated in the spiritual life of the venerable fathers of the Kiev Lavra. In 1888 he returned to the monstery of St. Nicholas in Vranjina, and a year later he went to the Ostrog monastery. The remainder of his life the hieromonk Simeon served in the newly-revealed monastery Dajbabe. St. Simeon of Dajbabe passed in the Lord the 1st of April (according to the Gregorian Calendar), in the year 1941. His venerable relics were discovered at the 55th anniversary of his passing, in 1996, in the monastery of Dajbabe. (It seems like he was tonsured at the Kievan Caves). [end my translation]

Something else interesting (regarding previous statements that St. Justin was glorified). I was flipping through a St. John of Kronstadt Press catalogue from 2007, and they started describing a book by St. Justin in the words "From the pen of the recently-glorified great theologian of the Serbian Orthodox Church".

I'm wondering if he was glorified by some Old Calendarists. St. John of Kronstadt Press is under Metropolitan Agafangel, who leads the section of ROCOR that did not accept the union with the MP and which is now united to the Cyprianites and the Bulgarian and Romanian Old Calendarists.

Logged

"A riddle or the cricket's cryIs to doubt a fit reply." - William Blake

The conjugation "art" agrees with the subject "thou." I say this not to pick on Peter, but because I've noticed this same thing in a lot of OCA liturgical texts. For example, the official Divine Liturgy text will say "for He is a good God who lovest mankind." It should be loveth. I'm all for the classical English diction, but let's make sure we do it properly, eh?

Logged

"A riddle or the cricket's cryIs to doubt a fit reply." - William Blake